Why the new Cleopatra documentary on Netflix is problematic

Netflix Queen Cleopatra

Queen Cleopatra is a documentary promoting Afro-centerism, which is an ideology that supports African Americans being the original Egyptians.

Why is this dangerous? Afro-centrics promote the idea of returning to Egypt and 'kicking out' us Egyptians because we 'stole' their history and culture. Afro-centrics claim that pharaohs and ancient Egyptians were fully black, and we Egyptians stole their identities.

Egyptians come in all different shades, we do not look the same, but our DNA traces back to our ancestors in Egypt, so the vast majority are ethnically Egyptian, if not, then they are Arabs who's DNA traces back to Saudi Arabia post-Islamic Egypt.

Afro-centerism also promotes the idea that we are 'descendants of colonizers' which is not only a downright lie but also hugely disrespectful towards Egyptians and very dismissive of our struggle and suffering under the hands of different colonizers.

Now let's get to the show.

cleopatra is portrayed as a black Egyptian, which is obviously absolute bullshit. Cleopatra was a Greek Macedonian who was the final queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. So obviously the creators of this show didn't even bother doing proper research, they just wanted to force those ideas on the viewers.

This show is executively produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith, Will Smith's wife. It is no surprise when many celebrities are huge supporters of Afro-centerism like Kevin Hart, Naomi Campbell and countless others.

Please do not watch this show and the ideas it promote, it is very hurtful as an Egyptian to see your culture and identity being stripped away from you.

The article first appeared on Twitter.

READ MORE: Queen Cleopatra: Netflix adds the Greek Queen of Egypt to list of “blackwashed” historical figures.